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Noble Hops Gastropub serves high-end cheeses and meats. Aric Mussman, one of the owners, won’t even try to put a label on a cuisine that includes burgers and bangers alongside ahi, escargot, squid and beef carpaccio. “It is high-end bar food. It is the best quality stuff we can find, cooked to order,” he said.

Noble Hops' fare, beer appeal to foodies, 'hoppys'

Noble Hops Gastropub serves high-end cheeses and meats. Aric Mussman, one of the owners, won’t even try to put a label on a cuisine that includes burgers and bangers alongside ahi, escargot, squid and beef carpaccio. “It is high-end bar food. It is the best quality stuff we can find, cooked to order,” he said.

Server Anelise Eldredge, left, delivers food to Ashley Allen and
Michael Gioffredi on the patio of Noble Hops, a gastropub where you
can pair great beer with above-pub-grade food.

A pub is where you can get some decent grub and a good beer to
wash it down.

A gastropub is where you can pair a great beer with great food
from a menu stripped of its chicken wings and jalapeño poppers.

At least that's the verdict after visiting one of several
beer-and-food joints in and around Tucson that call themselves
"gastropubs."

Noble Hops Gastropub is named for the flower that gives beer its
"hoppy" flavor. Its website calls it a "place for foodies."

We four food lovers found it definitely so.

First, let's set the table.

Noble Hops sits at the east end of an upscale strip mall in Oro
Valley - one of those places where the stucco is faced in rock.

It has a patio on the east, shaded from the afternoon sun, and a
bar that is half al fresco and half whatever the Italian word is
for inside.

The patio has gas heaters, one of those fire pits with gas jets
hidden beneath stones, and a stunning view of Pusch Ridge in the
Santa Catalina Mountains.

At 5 p.m. on a December eve, we chose the patio, and regretted
our decision by 6 p.m. By that time, a wiser happy-hour crowd had
filled the inside tables and we sunset watchers were stuck out in
the cold with only the fire pit, our beer, wine and food to console
us.

We were happy.

Beer first, because the place is called Noble Hops and because
beer is God's gift to the world.

Noble Hops has 28 draft beers on a rotating menu, priced at $4
to $6 a pint. All are from microbreweries, with a growing
contribution from Arizona. Co-owner Aric Mussman said the pub plans
to brew its own beers eventually.

It has an extensive list of bottled beers, mostly from small
breweries. It also sells mass-produced American beer, Mussman said.
Most gastropubs won't serve Bud Lite, but he figured Oro Valley was
not downtown Denver.

I'm a lager/pilsner/pale ale guy. I don't like fruit or
chocolate or vanilla or any other damn thing in my beer. I don't do
stout or porter, though I'll go as far as IPA (India Pale Ale). I
chose a pint of Czechvar pilsner because the Czechs invented
pilsner. Tasty, though not great.

Lee ordered the Wasatch Squatter's Outer Darkness. It came in a
12-ounce glass because its alcohol content is an amazing 10.5
percent.

He pronounced it good and described it in a later email as "a
velvety licorice whisper of a dark beer."

I tasted and pronounced it good for a beer too stout to do more
than sip. I don't sip.

We had the Bavarian pretzels ($7), which we wouldn't have
ordered without her prodding, but were glad we did. Don't expect
knots. These pretzels looked like two small loaves of bread.

They were deliciously crispy and rock-salted, with a chewy,
pretzel-like interior. They came with a pungent cheese sauce and a
mound of mustard that is stone-ground on the premises. The pretzels
are shipped from Germany.

We ordered one soup to share. It was a Wisconsin Cheese Beer
Bisque ($5), with a "creamy cheddar cheese & maple glazed bacon
compote," according to the menu. Ginny is not a fan of cheese soup.
She was a fan of this one. We all regretted that we hadn't ordered
the butternut squash soup as well.

We also ordered a cheese board, banger kabobs and porcini-dusted
gnocchi.

The cheese board ($15) featured a tasty cheddar from Wales, a
wine-soaked drunken goat cheese and a Manchego, both from Spain.
They would have gone nicely with the olives on the menu, but I
forgot to order the olives.

The cheese came with a nice bed of fresh-looking baby lettuce
leaves and a few tomatoes. The quality of the greens led us to
believe the four salads on the menu would also be good.

The banger kabobs ($9) were three whole sausages served on a bed
of sauerkraut salad. The sauerkraut bed was a twin. I wanted a
king, or at least a queen. We fought over it.

The gnocchi ($9) were ambrosial, melt-in-your-mouth, little
mounds of potato in a creamy gorgonzola cheese sauce. All four of
us raved.

Noble Hops also has entrees and we felt compelled to split one
at this point - and to order another beer.

Lee found one of his favorite beers on the menu - a Velvet
Merlin from Firestone Walker Brewing Co. in Paso Robles, Calif.

I chose the Modus Hoperandi IPA from Ska brewery in Durango,
Colo. IPAs can be too bitter or too aromatic. Mine was neither.

We ordered the Drunken Chicken ($16), keeping with the spirit of
things - best chicken I've ever eaten.

The half-chicken's skin was dark and crispy without being tough.
The meat was moist. The chicken is marinated in beer, cooked in a
smoker and finished in a roasting oven.

It came with roasted pumpkin and sautéed vegetables, all infused
with a malt cream sauce.

For desert, we ordered the chocolate board ($10). Good truffles
and things, not quite enough for four, accompanied by a ribbon of
sweetened whipped cream and chocolate crumbles.

Lee and Susan were drawn back to the place a few days later at
lunchtime.

His report:

"My dahling was pleased to get the portabella veggie burger
($10), which was livened up w/roasted peppers, havarti cheese,
crushed walnuts, greens and herb aioli.

"Here's the surprise: She ate the whole thing! This is a first
in the 15 years of her hunting for a good burger alternative.

"It's time to talk about the Wisconsin Bacon Jam Cheeseburger
($10), recommended by the waitress.

"Bacon jam?! Are you kidding me? But the beauty is that every
bite is bacon-flavored, and it can't fall out. Add some smoked
aioli, a thick slice of cheese, all on a good, solid kaiser roll
and, voila! a thoroughly tasty, juicy yet manageable burger!"

Even familiar food is fairly fancy at Noble Hops, but what's not
to love about fish and chips with a caper-lemon sauce and
three-citrus aioli?

The evolution of Tucson's food truck culture - creative foodies
dishing up more than the ubiquitous Sonoran hot dog and tacos - was
one of the highlights in what was a very good year for dining in
Tucson. Here are five of our favorite trends from 2011 that we look
forward to seeing more of in the year ahead.